Annotations (3)

     In this annotation, I trace back to the history of Taiwan. As WWI was coming to an end, a wave of self-determination swept the world. “President Wilson presented his “14 points” as a blueprint of the handling of the war’s aftermath. Included in his “14 points” was the principle of self-determination for all people. In handling the aftermath of this war, the views of all people should be respected.”(15) Taiwanese intellectuals at that time were inspired by this concept and were determined to strive for more freedom and equality in Taiwan. “We Taiwanese must seriously consider our future under Japanese rule.”(26) This could be seen as the first time that Taiwanese talking about our own future that is related to our sovereignty.

     In November 1943, “World War II was drawing to a close and the Japanese were on the brink of defeat. The leaders of the allied powers, China, the United States and Great Britain, met at Cairo and the issue of Taiwan’s future was addressed. The U.S. backed Chiang Kai-shek in his request that Japan return Manchuria, Formosa and Penghu to the Republic of China.”(14) However, in the formal treaty, Treaty of Peace with Japan, which was signed at San Francisco in 1951, the request was not recorded. The original text of the treaty wrote, “Japan renounces all right, title and claim to Formosa and the Pescadores.” It simply states that Japan “renounces” all right, but it doesn’t specify that Japan will give its right to the Republic of China.

     The popular dispute now in Taiwan is that which one is effective, Cairo Declaration in which Chiang Kai-shek requests that Japan return Manchuria, Formosa and Penghu to the Republic of China or Treaty of Peace with Japan? The latter should be effective since the allied powers in WWII had signed the treaty and Cairo Declaration was not a treaty. If the Chinese National Party didn’t come to Taiwan after WWII, Taiwan would probably apply the principle of self-determination. Taiwan has the chance to become an independent country, and for this reason, some Taiwanese don’t recognize the name “Republic of China.” This is how I try to support the independence of Taiwan from the perspective of history.

References:

認識台灣歷史. 8, 日本時代(下) : 覺醒的年代 [電子資源] : 覺醒的年代 = The Japanese Era (II) : The Age of Awakening / 鄭丞鈞劇本編寫 ; 劉素珍, 劉昭淵漫畫繪製 ; 何仁傑(Peter Hillman)英譯.

認識台灣歷史. 9, 戰後(上): 強人天空下 [電子資源] : 強人天空下 = The Post-World War II Era (I) : In the Realm of the Strongmen / 何佩琪劇本編寫 ; 劉素珍, 劉昭淵漫畫繪製 ; 文魯彬(Robin J. Winkler)英譯. 

https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20136/volume-136-I-1832-English.pdf

Revised Annotations (2)

Legacy Debate as Republic of China Marks 100 Years

     According to this piece of BBC news, we find out a problem when discussing Taiwan’s independency. Our government recognizes the formal name of our country as ROC (Republic of China), and in the Constitution of ROC, it writes, “中華民國領土，依其固有之疆域”, but it doesn’t specify the parts which belong to its inherent territory. Should Taiwanese insist on the name of ROC? Or should we recognize Taiwan as just Taiwan?

     The article starts from the 100^th anniversary of ROC in 2011. While many people in Taiwan celebrate the national day, there are some people who have different opinion.

          "The ROC is a Chinese government exiled in Taipei. It should be out of Taiwan," said Tsay Ting-kuei, who is one of a group of people who believe that when Japan lost WWII, Taiwan technically should not have been handed over to the ROC because that was not specified in the treaties signed between Japan and the Western victors in the war.(BBC News)

Another business woman, Yeh Tsai-chu, said, “The ROC's 100th anniversary has nothing to do with Taiwan. Besides, what is there to celebrate? The ROC is not even recognised as a country by the rest of the world.” (BBC News)

     There are still many people credit KMT government with making Taiwan a democratic country and becoming prosperous in economy. Despite these facts, it seems that we have to choose between the name of ROC and Taiwan. Most the countries in the world recognize Taiwan instead of ROC. If we go abroad with the passport writing ROC, the customs officers categorize us as Chinese. ROC has lost its membership in United Nations in 1971, and it is only admitted officially by about 20 more countries.

     Considering the Sun Flower Movement happened in March in 2014, which is mainly the response of the students to Service Trade Agreement that is going to be signed by our government with China, we can get a hint of the attitude of both the government and the younger generation. There is concern among Taiwanese that we are about to be integrated with China. Even the name of ROC will become history. This is the reason of why the issue of whether Taiwan should be independent is under severe debate recently.

     Another student demonstration happened in Hong Kong, which is recognized as Umbrella Revolution, can also be our lesson to learn. China government promise Hong Kong to rule themselves when they were returned to as part of China, but it turned out to be a lie. People are angry that they can only choose from a pool of candidates that are approved by Beijing, so the protestors occupied the central areas. Some people in Taiwan, including me, are afraid that if we integrated with China, even the Beijing government promises us democracy, we will end up like Hong Kong. We will eventually lose our most precious value, freedom.

Reference

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-15218596